Kansas Republicans Cut and Run - to Become Democrats

Today's Washington Post:

Moderates in Kansas Decide They're Not in GOP Anymore

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page A01

WICHITA -- Paul Morrison, a career prosecutor who specializes in putting killers behind bars, has the bulletproof résumé and the rugged looks of a law-and-order Republican, which is what he was until last year. That was when he announced he would run for attorney general -- as a Democrat.

He is now running neck-and-neck with Republican Phill Kline, an iconic social conservative who made headlines by seeking the names of abortion-clinic patients and vowing to defend science-teaching standards that challenge Darwinian evolution. What's more, Morrison is raising money faster than Kline and pulling more cash from Republicans than Democrats.

Nor is Morrison alone. In a state that voted nearly 2 to 1 for President Bush in 2004, nine former Republicans will be on the November ballot as Democrats. Among them is Mark Parkinson, a former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, who changed parties to run for lieutenant governor with the popular Democratic governor, Kathleen Sebelius.

"I'd reached a breaking point," Parkinson said, preparing for a rally in Wichita alongside Sebelius. "I want to work on relevant issues and not on a lot of things that don't matter."

Parkinson has given the Democrats a powerful meme to use in our run against the GOP.

"Vote for Democrats and we'll start to work on the real issues facing America."

This isn't to say that protecting a woman's right to chose, science curriculums from meddling Christianists, or working to make sure that all Americans are equal under the law isn't important, but to many voters, members of the squeezed middle class, issues like rising costs for health care stagnant wages and are the ones that are ever present in their lives. Worries about terrorism, energy independence, the War in Iraq, and the cost of college are what keep them up at night, not the specter of two married men or Terri Shiavo.

The Republican party isn't talking about any of those things. Well, the GOP is talking about Iraq and Terrorism, but voters are smart enough to realize that Republicans, from the Bush Administration on down, aren't leveling with them. It's not a discussion, it's not a debate. People don't feel like their concerns are being heard.

The defections in the Kansas GOP also illustrate a problem for the Republican party in general. Moderate 'governmental' conservatives - the 'old guard' interested in things like small government, fiscal responsibility, and 'classical' conservative notions about governmental interference in the personal lives of citizens - are squaring off against the rising power in the Republican coalition, socio-religious Conservatives interested in legislating morality.

The Democratic party should welcome any Republican that has reached the conclusion that the Republican Party of today is bad for America. At the same time, we should be careful that an influx of right-leaning politicians could change our position on central issues.

Plundering the Republican Ranks isn't the way to victory, though it may be a something that happens along the way.

Kansas Politics Democrats Republicans Paul Morrison Phill Kline 2006 Elections

More Evolved Educational Standards

Ok, I'm really done with the obnoxious titles for a while.

The Washington Post reports that conservative Republican members of the Kansas Board of Education have been voted out of office:

Conservative Republicans who approved new classroom standards that call evolution into question lost control of the State Board of Education in Tuesday's primary election.

A victory by pro-evolution Republican candidate Jana Shaver over conservative Republican Brad Patzer, who supported the standards treating evolution as a flawed theory, meant conservatives would at best have five of 10 seats on the board.

Five seats were up for election in the primary, the latest skirmish in a seesawing battle between faith and science that has opened Kansas up to international ridicule.

Good news, of course. Sad that the article didn't ever bother to mention that 99.9% of all respected scientists support Evolution as a key concept in our understanding of biology, bio-chemistry, genetics, and countless other important fields.

Worse yet, the article finished with a blurb about the Discovery Institute, the anti-Evolution fiction factory in Seattle.

Perhaps the Washington Post assumed that it's readership was both well enough educated to know that on their own. I do know this: School children in Kansas are very well educated when it comes to the impact of political propagandising on their education.

Kansas Evolution Republicans Democrats

Kansas' Evolving Stance on Evolution

The Washington Post has an interesting article on the upcoming school board elections in Kansas:

Evolution's defenders, working to defeat Kansas Board of Education members who oppose modern Darwinian theory, are challenging three incumbent Republican conservatives and the political heir to a fourth in Tuesday's primary.

A shift of two seats to moderate Republicans -- or to Democrats -- in November almost certainly would lead to a reversal of state science standards celebrated by many religious conservatives and reviled by the scientific establishment.

The article goes on to mention that there are a lot of people in Kansas that are rather embarassed. The cartoons depicting a bunch of cave-men sitting at desks with the label 'Kansas' seems to rankle a bit.

Good.

One of the scariest parts of Republicanism 2.0 is it's virulent anti-science rhetoric. Well, that and the labeling of Liberalism and Science (Secular Humanism) as a religion. The piece notes that it isn't necessary to elect a Democrat to have the Creationist retrogrades thrown out. Moderate Republicans (Republicanism 1.0?) are also in opposition to the Christianists.

Here's hoping the people of Kansas vote out the crazies.

Kansas Evolution Christianists Republicans

Cracks

Cracks form under the stress of governing. The Republican Party is starting to see them. Governing shows how wide the cracks are getting in Kansas.

Kansas is a Republican state, but the GOP found it impossible to recruit a strong candidate for governor this year. While incumbent Democrat Kathleen Sebelius piles up campaign cash - she already had nearly $2 million in hand by the end of 2005 -— a field of largely unknown Republicans scrambles for the seemingly thankless job of running against her in November.

What makes a Democrat so formidable in such a conservative state? The answer is Republican fratricide. The Republican Party is so deeply and bitterly split between moderates and social conservatives that Sebelius has had plenty of room to position herself in the center, and she has done so skillfully. Her ability to reach out to Republicans unhappy with their state party's conservative bent was recently exemplified when Mark Parkinson, former chairman of the state GOP, switched parties and became her new running mate.

This was going to have to catch up with the GOP some time. The Fundies are starting to scare the Moderates and the Moderates just don't 'get' that they need to enact legislation to hasten the coming of the Rapture.

If Democrats are getting elected in Kansas because of this, I can imagine that there should be some way to get some Democrats elected all over the country. If it can turn rational, thinking Republicans into Democrats, all the better.

Kathleen Sebelius Republicans Conservatives Mark Parkinson Democrats

Back in the Game

A little bit of burn out and a long weekend have left this site a little thin lately. Now, once again fueled by gas station coffee and donuts, I rejoin the fight.

First bit of interesting news of the day:

Former GOP Chairman Parkinson switches affiliation to Democrat

TOPEKA, Kan. - Former Kansas Republican Party Chairman Mark Parkinson switched his party affiliation to Democrat on Tuesday, fueling speculation that he will be named Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' running mate.

Parkinson came into the Johnson County election office shortly before noon Tuesday and switched parties, said Brian Newby, the county election commissioner. Newby said Parkinson did not say why he was switching parties. But his name has been widely circulated as Sebelius' choice to run for lieutenant governor after she announced Friday she was seeking a second term without a running mate in tow.

My understanding is that the Kansas Republican party is split between its more moderate elements and the batshit crazy 'wingers. Switching parties isn't entirely unheard of.

Also among prominent Kansas Republicans who have switched parties is Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison, who switched to challenge conservative Republican Attorney General Phill Kline in the November general election. Parkinson is co-chairman of Morrison's campaign.

A former House member also recently switched from Republican to Democrat to challenge the woman who beat her in 2004. Cindy Neighbor of Shawnee filed for office as a Democrat and faces Rep. Mary Pilcher Cook in a rematch in November.

Besides serving as GOP chairman from 1999-2003, Parkinson served in the House from 1991-92 and the Senate from 1993-97.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, has known Parkinson since he was a teenager and served with him in the Legislature. He said Parkinson is qualified to be lieutenant governor and that his party switch was significant.

"My guess is that he's been thinking about this for a long time, that this isn't a fly-by-night decision to change parties," Hensley said. "It's not a case of them leaving the party, they feel the party as left them for a long time. This is not an isolated deal."

In many ways, this is a good thing. It weakens the GOP, both in terms of lost experienced campaigners and in a psychological sense. It also makes it plain that the Republican Party is radicalizing.

For state races, especially governor's races, I think this is a wonderful thing. Having Democratic governors is good for the national party. That doesn't mean that there are no drawbacks to attracting GOP defectors.

First, if a politician has defected once, there's no reason that he or she won't do so again. Should the Republican Party return to more 'traditional' positions and platforms, will these new Democrats revert to their original, preferred party affiliation?

Reverting to Republicanism isn't an immediate problem. We can deal with it if we need to in the future. What really concerns me is that while politicians such as Mark Parkinson may have changed the letters after their names from R to D, they haven't necessarily changed their minds about important issues.

Just because Parkinson is now a Democrat doesn't mean he's abandoned his philosophy of government - nor should it. And while I am excited to have a variety of opinions and well reasoned debate within the party, one has to wonder, if Parkinson would be elected to the U.S. House or Senate, would he vote more often with his fellow Democrats or with his old party?

A politician who has realized that the Republican party is leading this nation off a cliff is welcome within the Democratic Party. What we must be careful of is relying on re-badged Republicans to win races for us. Our 'brand' is diluted and we can't rely on a constant stream of defectors to fill the ranks.

That said, welcome, Mark Parkinson, to the right side of history. I hope that you find the Democratic party welcoming and that your campaign is successful.


Mark Parkinson Kathleen Sebelius Kansas Republicans Democrats